Sam Jacob has designed a mirrored cube that has a cinematic effect to provide an urgent respond to our plastic waste system for the London Design Festival 2019. 

The 17th edition of London Design Festival has kicked off on Saturday and will be on view until September 22, 2019 with a programme of citywide activity in the districts and destinations, showcasing local and international design talent. 

Jacob's installation, titled Sea Things, is exhibited in the grand entrance of the V&A in collaboration with SAP. The installation explores the role of designand technology in reducing ocean plastics, in direct response to current predictions forecasting a higheramount of waste than marine life in the sea by 2050.

The mirrored installation highlights the need to rethink the global plastics system; to consider it’s full lifetime journey; and to design future-use into every product. 

Sam Jacob is inspired from a pattern by Charles and Ray Eames in the V&A’s Textiles andFashion collection, will take the form of a large scale two-way mirrored cube suspended above visitors with an animated motion graphic internally reflected to an infinity that seems both as wide as the ocean and as large as the challenges we face. 

Visitors entering the impactful space will feel transported and entirely absorbed by the installation, which is both a digital and physical manifestation of the global single-use plastics crisis.

In addition, Jacob remade seven water vessels from the V&A’s Collection. From recycling to experimental post plastic materials, the intervention will emphasise issues of value -the design of water vessels in global culture and history, along with the value of plastic itself – whilst demonstrating the potentials and opportunities for the future. 

The project has an aim to evoke a powerful sense of emotion, so visitors come away feeling empowered with a better understanding of their role alongside technology and design to make the world a more sustainable place.

"It’s fantastic to be able to work on such an urgent issue and to be able to draw both on the knowledge of LDF and the V&A, and the global intelligence of SAP.  Working between research on the immediate future, but with roots in culture and history of design, is an inspiring place for a designer to operate," said Sam Jacob.

The project aligns with SAP’s ‘Plastic Cloud’ project, which leverages the power of technology to turn the tide on ocean plastics. The softwaregiant is working withglobalpartnersto create thedigital infrastructure that will improve the economics of theglobalplastics system andincreaseafter-use valueof plastics.

"Plastics have become an intrinsic part of our lives and many are unaware of how much we use, or how it continues to affect our marine life, climate and economies. Now, more than ever, design has a vital role to play in creating a sustainable solution. 

The Festival will provide a platform for new material experimentation and discussion in a hope that it may move us one step closer towards creating a carbon neutral economy," said Ben Evans CBE, London Design Festival Director.

London Design Festival takes over the capital with a nine-day celebration, comprising over 400 different events, exhibitions and installations. As a citywide event, Design Districts and Design Destinations play a key role in the Festival, curating an ambitious programme of projects across London, allowing visitors and Londoners an opportunity to experience, discover, and be inspired by world class design.

Other design installations at the London Design Festival include Kengo Kuma, Paul Cocksedge, Camille Walala and more. Established in 2003 by Sir John Sorrell CBE and Ben Evans CBE, London Design Festival celebrates and promotes London as the design capital of the world. 

Jacob is currently working on a project to redesign the V&A's Cromwell Road entrance, where this installation is located.

All images © Ed Reeve 

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